Oberlin-Wellington Rescue

Exhibit Contents

Introduction

Oberlin's participation in antislavery activity from the 1830s to 1860
took many forms. The evidence of the action of individual participants can
be gleaned from the sermons of Rev. Henry Cowles, accounts of missionaries
who preached in the South about evils of slavery, the third-party references
to safe houses built on the route of the Underground Railroad, and the
correspondence that details the activities of slave catchers running down
fugitives by those now remembered as freedom-seekers. Some historians consider
Oberlin to be the most important stop on the Underground Railroad.
On 13 September, 1858, citizens and students of Oberlin and citizens of
Wellington successfully rescued John Price, a runaway slave living in Oberlin,
from slave catchers. As the story is told, Price had been forcefully removed
from the outskirts of Oberlin to the Wadsworth House in Wellington, and faced
a return to slavery in Kentucky. The events that followed, including a 1859
trial of the Oberlin Rescuers in Cleveland and their eventual release from the
Cuyahoga County Jail, represented one of Oberlin's most remarkable achievements
in the peaceful fight against the institution of slavery and in the moral
quest for freedom for black Americans.
The Oberlin College Archives houses a diverse collection of materials related
to the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue, the people who participated in it, and the
role Oberlin played in the history of abolitianism and antislavery in the
United States. Keep reading for information on the unique sources available in
person at the Oberlin College Archives, as well as the many resources accessible
on the web.